


Growing Up Gallagher

by libellules



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 14:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16328150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/libellules/pseuds/libellules
Summary: Lip was three and Ian was two the first time Monica left them. Frank was only gone for the first three days, assumingly with Monica on the first leg of her journey. Fiona was nine and still scared of the dark. But she took Ian out of his crib and held Lip’s hand, taking them to her room and snuggling them up wrapped in blankets on her bed. She was scared but it didn’t matter because they needed her.





	Growing Up Gallagher

Monica and Frank had left at some point Thursday night. It was now Monday and Fiona was dragging the kids out of bed for school. It was Fiona’s first day of high school today, not that anyone seemed to care. She couldn’t wait for the lockers and the parties. But, she was going to have to walk Lip and Ian down to the elementary school six blocks over before school started. The middle school had been much closer. 

“Fi, I want cereal,” Ian whined from his chair at the kitchen table. He was still in his pajamas and appeared to be half asleep, little green army men surrounding his empty plate. 

“We’re having toast today, buddy.” They had been out of cereal all weekend because Fiona never had a chance to go to the store. Debbie had been sick all weekend and it was time to start potty-training Carl. “I can put some cinnamon on top if you want.” Ian grinned, knocking down some of the army men. Bang. Bang. Bang. 

Lip carried a content Carl on his hip down the stairs and plopped him down next to Ian. 

“Can you take Carl and Debs this morning, Lip?” Fiona knew it was a longshot but she really didn’t want to be late. 

“We’re already going to be late. Ian you aren’t even dressed!” 

“Sorry, Lip.” Fiona handed Ian a piece of toast and he shoved it in his mouth, darting up the stairs with a handful of army men in his hands. 

“Good morning, sweets.” Fiona set a piece in front of Carl, kissing the top of his curly head. “Is Debs up yet?” 

“No she’s still asleep.” Lip took the final piece of toast and took a bite as he laced his sneakers. “I can’t take them today, I’m sorry Fiona.” 

“No, it’s alright. Just don’t be late for school.” 

Ian was still forcing his pale arms through his sleeves as he came back down the stairs, Debbie riding on his back. She was giggling, fingers clutched around his neck. 

“How you feeling?” She sniffed and gave Fiona a big grin. Ian had dressed her and Fiona prayed he also brushed her teeth. “Have a good day at school, love you.” She kissed the top of Ian’s head as Debbie slid off his back and took a seat at the table. She ran her fingers through Lip’s hair. The two boys were out the door within the minute. 

“I want bweakfast,” Debbie grinned, causing Carl to start giggling at her. Fiona handed her a piece of toast and fished Carl’s toothbrush out of the downstairs bathroom. 

Mornings we are always a hard time of day for Fiona. It had been six years since the first time Monica left them, she should’ve gotten used to it by this point. But sometimes, when she had only been awake for a moment, she could forget that her mom had left and that her dad was drunk. And then somebody would get hungry or start to cry or there wasn’t enough hot water left and she remembered that these were her kids to take care of. 

Her friend Amy had a kid, he was only a few months old. She was constantly complaining about how much work he was. It wasn’t like Fiona didn’t believe he was a lot of work, but she had four kids to take care plus her drunken father. She had been changing diapers and soothing nightmares for years already. Just one baby sounded like a breeze. 

But she would never trade her brothers and sister for anything. Sure, she would love to get a good night’s sleep but when Ian or Lip would crawl into her bed, wide eyes and shaky hands, and cling to her she felt so loved. It was the kind of feeling that parents usually give to their children -- make them feel wanted and needed -- but she got it from her little siblings. 

Lip was three and Ian was two the first time Monica left them. Frank was only gone for the first three days, assumingly with Monica on the first leg of her journey. Fiona was nine and still scared of the dark. But she took Ian out of his crib and held Lip’s hand, taking them to her room and snuggling them up wrapped in blankets on her bed. She was scared but it didn’t matter because they needed her. 

They were put into foster care that same spring for the first time. Luckily, they were all together. The woman they stayed with was so nice the first time they met her with their social worker. As soon as the social worker left she wasn’t nice anymore and Ian and Lip gripped Fiona’s hands like a lifeline. It war three months until Frank got them back. Apparently, he was so drunk the first two nights he hadn’t even realized they were gone. 

Monica didn’t come back for four years and then she got pregnant with Debbie. Fiona watched as her mother drank and smoked and ate junk food. Fiona had read a pregnancy book at the library and it said not to do those things. Monica promised Fiona she wouldn’t do it anymore, but when Fiona came downstairs in the middle of the night for a glass of water to find Monica and Frank doing cocaine with empty beer bottles tossed on the ground, she knew that her promises meant nothing. 

After Debbie was born, Monica stayed around. She promised it was for good this time, but Fiona knew that those words weren’t real. She found out she was pregnant and bailed for a few months. Lip was crying as she walked out the door, the only one old enough to really understand what was going on. Fiona held his hand and carried him back into the house, careful not to trip over Frank’s passed out form on the front porch. Monica came back a week before she gave birth to Carl on the kitchen table. She left that same night. Fiona was thirteen now and she knew exactly how to handle raising her siblings on her own. 

They made it work, Fiona had three jobs and her best friend, V, next door was constantly helping to take care of the kids and babysit when Fiona couldn’t afford to give her any money. Fiona had to drop out of school in order to have enough to work to keep the electric going, but she made it work. Lip told her it was dumb to dropout but she still made him promise her would never drop out. Lip and Ian were finally old enough to really help out with Debbie and Carl. They were going to be okay. 

They got put into foster care over and over again after that. Whether it was on Frank or Monica or concerned neighbors or angry neighbors, it happened so many times Fiona stopped keeping track. Sometimes they were together and sometimes they weren’t. Usually some of them were together and some weren’t. Each time Fiona prayed it would be the last. Each time they were reunited Fiona would pull them against her chest and refused to let go. The longest they were apart was six months, stupid Frank.. 

Sometimes it still didn’t feel okay, even if it had been then normal for six years. Debbie and Carl’s first words had both been ‘Mama’ and each time all Fiona wanted to do was crawl into her bed and sob. She wanted to cry for her own mother, but she didn’t have mother, not really. She corrected them but it took them a little while to start calling her Fi or Fiona. 

Four years later Monica came back and Debbie and Carl had no idea who she was. Frank was over the moon to have her back, they stayed out all night at the Alibi and dancing in the backyard, going for midnight swims in the pool. Monica was pregnant again and Fiona got another job. The money was already too tight, even with Lip finally being old enough to work. By the time the baby would be born Ian would be old enough to work too and with three of them bringing in money and all the old hand-me-downs she had kept, they would be able to keep the heat on for the winter. 

Monica gave birth to a little black boy and Frank was yelling and screaming and Monica left. Frank was gone for weeks before the police brought him back so drunk he couldn’t move. Liam was such an easy baby, his cries were soft and he slept incredibly. She was tired, but they were staying afloat. She loved Liam from the moment she saw him, but another baby meant even longer that Fiona would need to raise these kids. It wasn’t fucking fair, nothing in Fiona’s life ever had been. But she loved these kids and she would stay and do what Monica and Frank never could, care about them. 

She was the only one old enough to remember the times when Frank and Monica were putting food on the table and working. Nobody else had a happy family dangled in front of them to see it ripped away time and time again. Each new time Monica left and Frank passed out, it was normal to all of them but they had Fiona left to take of them. Fiona was nine the first time her world was turn upside down. She waited on the front porch in the snow all night waiting for her parents to come home. She didn’t know how or where to get money to get food or pay bills or how to keep Lip and Ian safe. She was tucked under the covers with a three and two year old. 

“Where’s Mommy?” Lip had asked with wet eyes. How was Fiona supposed to tell him that Mommy had left, that she had no idea if Mommy was ever going to come home. 

“I don’t know. But it’s going to be alright.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I watched the first seven seasons in about two weeks and I am officially obsessed with this show. The characters are so complex and feel so real, I love how they aren't idealized and make mistakes. Anyway, no matter what she's done and mistakes she has made, Fiona needs to be appreciated for what she sacrificed for her siblings and there is a surprising lack of Gallagher fam fics (not that I'm complaining about all the Gallavich content because I'm not). Anyway here's this, whatever this is. I kind of want to make a chapter fic about lots of little snippets of the Gallagher kids growing up -- is that something anybody would be interested in?
> 
> Also I literally never edit my work or have it beta'd so sorry if some of it is grammatically wrong or confusing. Sorry, I'm lazy!


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